This topic is pretty silly to begin with, but since it’s been a relatively slow afternoon news-wise, I thought it was worth discussing. You see, during Tuesday’s near no-hitter by the Rangers, I was accused of being a jinx. Yes, it’s true. That stung a little bit at the time, but it’s not going to stop me from mentioning potential no-hitters in the future. My apologies if you hate it, but I just refuse to believe that if I mention the event in progress — as I did here on the blog on Tuesday night — it will have some cosmic effect on the actual game on the field. That’s positively bananas.

We have had five no-hitters this season, including two perfect games, the great majority of which HardballTalk has covered in progress.

And that’s not even counting how MLB Network cuts into live game action as early as the sixth or seventh inning in some cases, or how the instant-gratification of Twitter has pretty much hacked away at whatever superstitions you once held dear. We live in a world where no-hitters in progress are mentioned more frequently than ever before, yet we have had more no-no’s this season than there have been since 1990.

I don’t want to get all scientific about it, because really, whatever you believe is up to you. The Mets have never thrown a no-hitter, so perhaps the whole darn franchise is a jinx for all I know. Though, I admit Cubs fans may have an argument with me there. The point is, no, I don’t think my words had any impact on Tuesday’s outcome, nor did ESPN’s or MLB Network’s or anybody on Twitter for that matter. Neftali Feliz just happened to miss his location on a fastball to Joe Mauer, who is a pretty good hitter, it turns out.

Yesterday the Mets announced that lefty Jason Vargas sustained a non-displaced fracture of the hamate bone in his right hand as the result of a comebacker during a spring training start. This morning they announced that Vargas will have surgery, which should cause him to miss the first week or so of the season.

Vargas will have the surgery tomorrow. Given that it’s on his non-throwing hand, he won’t miss much time — just a week or so of action, with another few days to get back up to speed afterward. He actually threw a bullpen session this morning. The issue is that he can’t catch a ball right now.

Vargas, 35, signed a two-year, $16 million pact with the Mets last month. With him missing a couple of starts, the Mets should break camp with both Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler in the rotation. The two had been fighting for the final spot.